2024 was a big year for Star Wars, a bold one in which the transmedia franchise grew in unexpected new ways. Viewers experienced stories ranging from comics to live action television, animation and audio drama. And within those mediums, tales spanning hundreds of years of the Star Wars timeline.
Whether you’re a fan of live-action or animation, the novels or the comics, you’ve had plenty of excitement this year. But what were the best, biggest moments from Star Wars? Here are our picks.
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The Jedi Council Returns For A New Adventure
Star Wars: The Living Force
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Published in April as part of The Phantom Menace‘s 25th anniversary celebrations, Star Wars: The Living Force featured an epic adventure starring the Jedi Council. This book by John Jackson Miller channels Episode I‘s aesthetics with its cover, and dives deep into one of the most interesting parts of the film: The Jedi Council. The book begins with Qui-Gon Jinn analyzing the Republic’s failures, and taking them to the Council.
The Jedi Council decides to turn their words into actions, deploying to the planet Kwenn in the Outer Rim as a whole, to hold a celebration of the Jedi Temple there that is closing. The Jedi’s grand celebration, though, is threatened by Outer Rim pirates with a significant hatred for the Jedi, leading to an intense battle. The Living Force dives deep into the personality of every member of the Jedi Council, giving each legendary master an incredible and sometimes hilarious personality.
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Darth Vader’s Assault On Exegol
Darth Vader (2020) By Greg Pak & Raffaele Ienco
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In the final arc of the landmark 2020 Darth Vader series, which came to a close this year, Darth Vader attacked the Sith redoubt of Exegol. Vader found out about Palpatine’s contingency on the Sith world at the beginning of the series, so in a way, the entire story was building up to this attack shortly before the events of Return of the Jedi. But how did the story reach the point where Vader was attacking Palpatine’s forces?
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Darth Vader’s motivation was a classic Sith idea: destroying your own master. Across the comic series, Vader had become more and more resentful of Palpatine, to the point where he joined advisor Sly Moore in a schism within the Empire. This “Schism” is what attacked Exegol, resulting in a colossal battle between Vader and many Kaiju, and one of the most memorable events in Star Wars comics in 2024.
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Omega And Crosshair Escape From The Empire
The Bad Batch Season 3
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The Bad Batch‘s ending had a lot to offer, but the animated series really shone through Omega and Crosshair’s storyline in the beginning of the final season. The season 2 cliffhanger ending left viewers shaken at the death of Tech and the Empire’s successful capture of Omega and Crosshair, who were held captive in the Mount Tantiss labs. Many expected this to be where the Batch would rescue them, but the opposite happened in the beginning of the season.
Omega and Crosshair begin working together, and eventually mount an incredible escape from the Empire’s facility. This was the fulfillment of seasons’ worth of both character development and world-building surrounding Tantiss, leading to a satisfying escape worthy of any great prison break. Most of all, though, Omega and her brother unite with the rest of the Bad Batch after being on the run, making for a heartwarming resolution to what is only the beginning of a great season.
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Jedi Romance Hits It Big Time In The High Republic
The High Republic: Temptation Of The Force
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2024 also brought The High Republic into its fourth and biggest year yet, with the release of several books and many comics, along with a TV show set in the era. Focusing on the main novels, Temptation of the Force by Tessa Gratton came out in June, and it did not disappoint. Continuing the story from The Eye of Darkness by George Mann, Temptation brings Jedi Avar Kriss and Elzar Mann back together, and it gets steamy.
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Avar and Elzar have long had feelings for each other, but as Jedi are not allowed to be in relationships. During the tremendous Nihil and Occlusion Zone crisis, though, the long romantic history between the two flares up – especially considering Avar Kriss’ return from Nihil space at the end of Eye of Darkness bringing the two back together. Temptation of the Force brings our heroes to Naboo, where once again, a forbidden Jedi romance blossoms.
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Viewers Are Introduced To At Attin In Skeleton Crew
Star Wars Suburbs Are More Than They Seem
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Star Wars: Skeleton Crew‘s first episodes immediately won viewers over, introducing intriguing and instantly likable characters, a plot that continually poses as many questions as it answers, and an interesting ongoing mystery. That last point has really been the show’s highlight, though, with the “lost planet of eternal treasure” capturing the imagination. Even now, At Attin remains a mystery.
The planet At Attin appears much like the idealized American suburbia of the 80s films the series is an homage to. But viewers quickly sensed there is something sinister behind the lawns and streets of At Attin, as nobody outside the planet’s mysterious, cloudy barrier believes that it’s real. At Attin’s introduction and gradual development across Skeleton Crew has certainly been a highlight of the year.
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Luke Skywalker’s Jedi Lesson For Ben Solo
Star Wars (2020) #50 by Charles Soule & Madibek Musabekov
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Just as 2020’s Darth Vader comic ended, so did the main Star Wars comic run by Charles Soule, with the final issue illustrated by Madibek Musabekov. This issue brought things into a new light, with the story being framed as a lesson to Ben Solo from none other than Jedi Master Luke Skywalker at his Ossus Jedi Temple. Luke was one of the main characters of the comic, so this gave a wonderful sense of finality to the series.
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In the story, Luke teaches Ben about how far one should go in order to defeat their enemy. This is an absolutely core value to Star Wars, as it defines the light and dark side in many ways. Luke’s story takes place before Return of the Jedi, where he has the option to use an ancient Force artifact to kill Palpatine once and for all. But through the artifact’s dark powers, thousands of others would die along with him, leading Luke to choose not to use the device. This is a powerful lesson for the conflicted, young Ben Solo.
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The Return Of Grand Moff Adelhard & The Iron Blockade
Star Wars: Battle of Jakku By Alex Segura
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Star Wars: Uprising was a 2015 mobile game by Kabam set shortly after the Battle of Endor that has been unavailable for play for years. This game told the story of the Star Wars galaxy’s Anoat Sector, where Cloud City was located, under the rule of Grand Moff Adelhard. This Imperial warlord lied to the sector, telling them that Palpatine was still alive, and blockading the entire sector off from the influence of the newly formed New Republic.
The inaccessibility of this story was addressed, though, in the 2024 comic maxi-series Battle of Jakku by Alex Segura. Picking up in the exact same time frame, Battle of Jakku follows Luke, Leia, and their New Republic allies in a struggle against Adelhard and his powerful Imperial remnant. This return of older canon characters to the forefront of a new story sets a great precedent, and was definitely one of the highlights of 2024 Star Wars comics.
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The Bad Batch Destroys The Empire’s Work At Mount Tantiss
The Bad Batch Season 3
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As previously mentioned, Mount Tantiss was a core location for the final two seasons of The Bad Batch, as the central lab where the Empire conducting cloning experiments. This directly impacted the clones held there, which eventually included Omega and Crosshair. In the show’s finale, though, Clone Force 99 returns with a vengeance in order to rescue Omega once again.
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The climactic series finale of The Bad Batch was action packed, seeing the release of not only the Zillo Beast being held there, but also the Clone X Trooper division to combat the Bad Batch. This ending is absolutely sublime, with gorgeous animation showing the emotional impact of the clone family’s long journey. It ends surprisingly well for them, too, with the research and facilities at Mount Tantiss destroyed, though its surviving assets are ominously redirected to Project Stardust.
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Star Wars Introduced Its First New Live-Action Sith Lord Since 2005
Star Wars: The Acolyte
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2024 also saw the release of the first live action Star Wars series taking place outside of the Skywalker Saga with The Acolyte. A mystery set during the High Republic Era, The Acolyte takes place in a time where the Jedi believe the Sith to be extinct, yet follows twin sisters whose lives get intertwined with the Sith through a catastrophic series of events. In the middle of it all, though, Star Wars introduced one of its best characters in years, Qimir – also known as The Stranger.
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The Stranger first appears to the Jedi in the woods of Khofar to a Jedi search party, descending from the trees and igniting his lightsaber. This began the incredibly choreographed duel in the Khofar woods, which ended with the deaths of 8 Jedi, and showcased The Stranger’s immense skill with the dark side of the Force. Qimir then continued to play a key role in The Acolyte, eventually being revealed to be the student of Darth Plagueis, and former student of Jedi Master Vernestra Rwoh. The Acolyte solidified Qimir as one of the best live-action Sith in all of Star Wars.
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Barriss Offee’s Fate As An Inquisitor Is Finally Revealed
Star Wars: Tales Of The Empire
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Long-running mysteries and cliffhangers have fueled Star Wars for years, and the case of Barriss Offee is no different. After her surprisingly violent anti-Jedi actions in The Clone Wars, Barriss was never seen again, which is especially concerning and interesting for a former Jedi kept in Republic custody as that very government transformed into the Empire. Luckily, 2024 held the answer that had been in the making for over a decade, in Tales of the Empire.
Barriss’s three animated shorts reveal that shortly after the events of Revenge of the Sith, Barriss joins the newly formed Inquisitorius, training under the Grand Inquisitor and Darth Vader. She works for the Empire for what is presumably years, hunting down surviving Jedi, though this upsets her, as her hatred for the Jedi was more caused by the Clone Wars than the actual nature of the Jedi themselves. Barriss then leaves the Inquisitorius, becoming an independent Jedi healer who gives her own life force to help others, as a true Jedi would.